Special Terms For Students ii o s,y, : ,y-- Continental Valet Service II DIXON: R~GISTERED AT THE {].P.O. AS A NEWSPAP]BR COPYRIGHT Cleaning, Repairing IIHEMPENSTALL ~__1 GRAFTON ST. Vol. VI--No. 12. THURSDAY, 12th MARCH, 1959 PRICE 3d. 10 St, King St. Our 6o11)i¢ Call)¢dral JOHN PENTLAND MAHAFFY At last a satisfactory use has been found for our Examination Hall--as sub- stitute for a Gothic cathedral. College Singers demonstrated this very clearly (1839-- 1919) at their concert given last Friday, when Honorary Degrees their performance of sacred music by Recently the Senate confirmed the ECOND only in brilliance to the President’s Opening Meeting was Lassus, Buxtehude and Bach was greatly award of seven honorary degrees made S enhanced by the reverbera,nt acoustics by the Board of T.C.D. last Thursday evening’s Phil. Celebration of the Centenary of the of the Hall. Though such acoustic qualities are often a hinderance to Sir Hugh Beaver, who was formerly Presidency of John Pentland Mahaffy. To an audience which included certain types of music, they are in fact Chairman of the Advisory Council for many members of the staff and ex-oflicers who had distinguished them- a necessary adjunct to this polyphonic Scientific and Industrial Research, re- music, which was, after all, written for ~ived an LL.D. He is Managing selves in other walks of life, Mr. J. T. Killen (Sch.) read a masterly performance in a resonant building such Director of Arthur Guinness, Son and paper on "The Greatest Provost of Them All." as our Examination Hall. Co. Ltd. I,n these ideal surroundings, it was, Professor J. L. Montrose, Dean of He dealt with Mahaffy’s brilliant more of his greatness. ~Ihe man’s therefore, all the more distressing to see the Faculty of Law, Queen’s University, scholastic career, his remarkable ver- faults were obvious, but it was in his how few people were present to hear an Belfast, also received an LL.D. satility, his tremendous wit and person- ability to carry them off, he assured us, exquisite performance of what must be ality. But, said the essayist, like all that his greatness lay. " Those of us the most ambitious program~me that A third LL.D. was conferred on Mr. g r e a t claimants to encyclopaedic who lived in the golden age with Singers have ever put on. W. H. Taft, III, former United States knowledge, there was something of the Mahaffy were raised from the common- The parts were evenly balanced Ambassador in Dublin. Mr. Taft took imposter about him. We were told of place to breathe the exalted air." When throughout, and there was a richness of his Ph.D. at Princetown in 1942. He is his attitude of well-bred arrogance to his great rival, the Ulsterman Traill, tone, especially among the basses, which associated with the ’Scholarship Ex- Irish Nationalism and of his petulance was appointed Provost over Mahaffy, £n the echo of the Hall amplified beauti- &ange Board, which has sent us Prof. in his criticism of the work of others. the Common Room he quoted the fully. The tonal quality of the sopranos Gluck and Mr. Sungaard. Mr. Taft is Psalmist, " Promotion cometh neither was particularly pure and piercing member of the America Council of This was enlarged upon in a fine, (though never shrill), and this added .T.C.D. lengthy speech by Dr. Stanford, who from the west, nor from the east, nor started by congratulating the Society on yet from the south." piquancy and "bite" which are so One person received the Litt.D. He Mahaffy was a great believer in a necessary if a performance is to main- holding such a meeting, and Mr. Killen tain its rhythm and interest in resonant is an author and playwright. He was on his paper, which he described as general university education and was born in Dublin (1906), educated at mature, delightful, fair and comprehen- very worried by a movement at that time surroundings. Portora and Trinity. He lectured in sive. Mahaffy, he said, stands with the to make Greek optional. He felt that Julian Dawson, conducting, showed English at the Eeoles Normales Sup~ri- greater Hellenists of the last 100 years, Logic should be c~mpulsory, " so that we himself in full command of the group cure, Paris (1928-30) and in French at should not fall victims to impostors," all the time. The attack throughout was Trinity from 1930-32. " En Attendant he excelled in general surveys, drawing and disliked the invidious "encroach- excellent. Probably the complicated on his own extensive knowledge of life rhythms of the Bach motet were the Godet" (1952), "Waiting for Godot" and literature. But he was not tempera- ment of the scientists." (1956), and a play for broadcasting, Dr. McDowell stated that but for a greatest test in this respect, and the mentally endowed with the punctiliour~ness lively movements of it were sung with "AtiThat Fall " (1957), are some of his required by the specialists and on this twist of fortune Mahaffy would have creations. He is, of course, Samuel account came in for some sharp criticism entered the Indian Civil Service, and great verve and precision. Beckett. wondered how much our recollection of The lengthy applause at the end, from to which he replied with equal but some- a comparatively sparcely populated ¯ Professor E. L. Hirst, F.R.S., received times unwarranted vigour. Mahaffy him is based on the last twenty years the Sc.D. He is a holder of the Davy himself had said that irregularities may of his life. He felt that an unhappy ~uditorium, bore witness as to the excel- Medal of the Royal Society, and has only be flaws in genius of the highest thread ran through Mahaffy’s life, that lence of the whole concert. It is to be he was not altogether at ease h~ con- hoped that this able band of singers will been President of the chemical section order. be given better support in their efforts of the British Association. temporary life, and that he was not Lady Mayer, benefactress of music The President introduced Prof. H. O. adjusted to the Ireland of his day. In- next term, though perhaps on this White by telling us that Mahaffy had deed he had encouraged his sons to go occasion the fault lay with bad advertis- and education, has been awarded the been one of the "platform" of Prof. abroad and join the I,mperial Civil ing. It is rumoured that next term they Mus.D., and Dr. Juan Greene, President, White’s Presidential opening meeting, Service. His love for his country was will be advertising their concert by National Farmers’ Association, the Agr.M. and Prof. White recalled Mahaffy’s great intense, he took a great delight in rustic singing rounds at Front Gate! affection for the Phil., which he had life and peasant speech, but disliked Incidentally, it appears that all seats The Rt. Rev. Alan Buchanan, Bishop adorned in his younger days. He de- prevalent trends in Irish politics. for the Choral concert to-day are sold, of Clogher; Rt. Rev. Arthur H. Butler, scribed the portraits of the great Provost His unhappiness, perhaps, fostered the But I understand that nobody will be Bishop of Tuam, and the Rt. Rev. hanging in the College and dealt with bold, venturesome spirit which linked turned away, as non-ticket holders can Edward F. B. Moore, Bishop of Kilmore, his fondness for College students and with the Victorian characteristic of get into the promenade at the back of all received the D.D. for the boys of the Chapel choir whom super-abundant health made up the man. the hall for 1/-. M.A.’s were awarded to Dr. A. C. he annually treated to tea in the He loved to fascinate people and how Allen, Dr. L. Bass and Mr. W. J. Provost’s House. pleased he would have been to have been Tarleton. Mr. Godfrey felt that Dr. Stanford had present at this meeting, 40 years after George Frederick Handel been too keen to dwell on Mahaffy’s his death, and to see that in the Univer- sity Philosophical Society an altar still An important bicentenary, that of the foibles, which abound in all human death of Handel, occurs on 14th April. beings, and thought we should think burns to him. Its main significance for Dublin derives .John Millington Synge from the fact that the first performance J. M. Synge died on 24th March, 1909. of the "Messiah" was given here, on An exhibition of his works to cam- 13th April, 1742. This was in the New memorate the fiftieth anniversary of his Musick-Hall, Fishamble Street, and it death will be opened in the Long Room was presented in aid of three Dublin 0n 16th April, at a special meeting of Alabcmy charities. the Friends of the Library, by J. M. The preliminary advertisements and Synge’s nephew, Professor J. L. Syn, ge, Miss Mary Carson covered many men have sought the philosophers’ stone an enthusiastic report of the perform- M.A., Sc.D., F.R.S., Honorary Fellow of aspects of her subject in an interesting and some claimed to have produced gold, ance appeared in contemporary issues of T.C.D. A catalogue will be issued and and often amusing address on alchemy but usually were discovered to have used George Faulkner’s "’ Dublin Journal," the exhibition will continue through to the D.U.E.S.A. last Tuesday.